Week 4 Impressions by Maddie Eggleston

Upon arriving in England I knew that different areas would be marked with many different kinds of people, but for some reason I had a picture in my mind that London was not exactly this way. I wrongly assumed that most people would extremely posh, well dressed and overly polite, but I have come to realize that this is not always the case. On Friday night Shaun, Steph, and I decided to venture into Camden to go to a Burlesque show. We got a teensy bit lost and wandered into a pub called the ‘Wheelbarrow Arms’ to pee before heading to the show. After going to the bathroom…I mean toilet…we thought we might have a little fun with the open container law. But unfortunately, in areas where it is marked you can receive a £90 fine. We did not like these laws…so, beneath little black plastic bags we sipped on our wine coolers and gin and tonics as we made our way to the burlesque show.

We then got to the bar and encountered a rather stubborn bouncer. We tried for a few minutes to convince the bouncer that we were all lesbians just looking for a good time and some hot ladies and he only responded with: “Yeah…right”. After feeling awkward that (1) we couldn’t pass as lesbians and (2) he let everyone else in for free but would make us pay we decided that maybe we should just head back to the ‘Wheelbarrow Arms’. When we first walked in I got an overwhelming feeling of Portland. There were so many people in plaid flannel, tights, boots, and ratty vintage tees I could barely control my excitement. The DJ was playing tunes like Tina Turner, Jet, the Beatles, and Michael Jackson, songs that I am very familiar with and songs that everybody can dance to…even if they don’t look good doing it. The DJ was very skinny with long dark hair, and was wearing a t-shirt with the sleeves cut off and very skinny jeans…an image that reminded me of Portland even more.

After dancing for a while and drinking a pint we met two men. One of them was a little old and creepy and the other was…well…short. After dancing for a while near them the creepy one asked us if we liked balloon animals, and who really is going to say no to that? He then proceeded to make Shaun a penis shaped balloon hat, Steph a cat, and me a pair of yellow glasses. This honestly did not seem as creepy as it sounds when it was happening…but nothing really sounds creepy after a pint of cider, I guess. Shaun asked the short friend if making balloon animals ever actually got him any women, and he replied: “no, unfortunately not. But he tries anyways”.

Going to this pub really showed me that London is not only diverse because so many cultures are present here, but also because there are cultures within those cultures. Most of the people we met that night were British but still seemed to have a very different way of dressing and acting than I thought most Londoners would. That night gave me a little taste of being back at school and reminded me that maybe we’re not so far away from home after all.